Monitoring the Future Study: Prescription drug abuse among teens remains steady, even as illicit drug use wanes; Clio area schools make preparations to tackle problem

M. KATHLEEN KELLY | The Star LedgerOxyContin, pictured here, is one of the most popular prescription drugs among teens. The drug is often acquired legally and distributed illegally to junior high and high school-aged children. Curbing the abuse of prescription drugs among teens is one of the major issues confronting the Clio Area School District in 2009.

CLIO, Michigan -- Despite statistically significant declines in illicit drug use among teens, prescription drug abuse is holding steady according to a recently-released study of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-grade students.

The Monitoring the Future survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Use and conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, found that while certain popular drugs (cocaine, crack, methamphetamines, etc.) showed a marked decline in use, prescription drug abuse remains at or near peak levels.

The results, released earlier this month at a press briefing at the White House, coincide with talk of local initiatives aimed at curbing the use of prescription drugs among young people.

Clio Police Chief James McLellan, recently met with the superintendent of the Clio Area Schools, Dr. Faye Latture, to discuss the ongoing problem in the district.

"I think the popularity of prescription drugs is due, somewhat, to the availability of them," said McLellan, whose department busted a juvenile selling a variety of prescription drugs in Clio Park this summer. "Many times (the drugs) are legally attained through a prescription, and for whatever reason they don't use their whole prescription. Those are often the drugs that are targeted for sale."

How teens acquire prescription drugs is of great concern to parents and educators. In 2007, researchers added questions to their surveys to determine supply points for prescription drugs. The most common source, not surprisingly, was friends and family, who either give away the drugs free of charge or at a cost. Only about 20-25 percent of those surveyed purchased the drugs from an actual dealer, while another 20-25 percent admitted to stealing the drugs.

"Clearly the informal networks of relatives and play a major role in the distribution of these prescription drugs to young users," said Lloyd Johnston, the study's lead investigator, in a statement released alongside the findings.

The problem, of course, is that prescription drugs, unlike marijuana or cocaine, can be acquired legally. And when illicit drugs are more difficult to come by, law enforcement agencies tend to witness a spike in the popularity of prescription drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin.

"I think in some parts of society (prescription drugs) are as popular as marijuana and other drugs," said McLellan. "A lot of times when illegal drugs dry up, people will go to legally obtained drugs and obtain them illegally, if that makes sense."

During a recent meeting of the Clio area's Northern Tier Committee, Vienna Township Superintendent Robert Palmer spoke at length about the societal and environmental importance of disposing of prescription drugs. The implication was that the Northern Tier's Healthy Community Initiative should take a lead role in addressing the issue.
Both Latture and McLellan will be a part of a prescription drug task force to tackle the issue head on.

"(The task force) is based on the fact that many of the discipline problems we've had over the last year and a half stemmed from kids who have taken prescription drugs prescribed to their parents and brought them to school," said Latture, who admitted that thus far the selling of prescription drugs has not been a major issue in the district. "We want to be able to make parents and pharmacists aware of (the problem). We had a meeting and we want to come up with a central disposal place where people can come with medicine they don't need or use and dispose of it properly."